


In which Pietro falls in love

by Laroja



Series: Clint Barton's Home for Wayward Superheroes [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 16:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4027594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laroja/pseuds/Laroja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pietro Maximoff is in love and Clint can't really blame him. He would like being allowed to hold his own son every once in a while though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Pietro falls in love

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, this part was a pain in the ass, let me tell you. I've lost count of how many times I rewrote, deleted and added stuff and man, am I glad it's finally finished. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this part and I'll go back to writing the next one. (Still going strong, yay!)
> 
> Thanks for all your kudos and comments on the other parts! You guys are the best and what keeps me going. ♥  
> Enjoy!

Pietro Maximoff is in love.

Clint takes one look at the younger man and he knows. He's seen that kind of look before; on himself, on Laura, even on Natasha. And now on Pietro. It's a bit disconcerting to see the younger man like that but really, Clint can't blame him.

His baby is damn cute after all.

 

 

The first time Pietro meets Nathaniel, he seems wary of the baby, almost scared. He hovers in the doorway of Laura's hospital room and watches Clint, Kate and Barney crowd around the bed, cooing over the newborn baby. For a few minutes, Clint is too distracted by his beautiful son to notice that Pietro has been carefully keeping his distance but when he does, he looks up and raises an eyebrow at the young man.

"You gonna stand over there all day or what?" he asks and Pietro's eyes widen slightly.

"I..." he stammers, "I just don't want to be in the way."

Clint rolls his eyes but it's Laura who speaks up before he can.

"Don't be silly," she says. "You're also part of this family. Now come here, I want you to meet someone."

Pietro still looks hesitant and he's nervously fiddling with the hem of his sweater but he slowly makes his way over to the rest of the Barton family. He casts a quick, unsure look at Clint and crosses his arms in front of his chest. It's weird seeing Pietro, who's normally so cocky and confident, like that and Clint gives him a reassuring smile.

"Do you want to hold him?" he asks and Pietro's mouth drops open and he quickly shakes his head.

"No, oh no," he says. "I couldn't... I mean, I-"

"Pietro, stop," Clint interrupts the young man. "You can hold him."

Pietro looks like a deer in the headlights. "But what if I drop him? Or... or what if I hold him wrong and he gets hurt and-"

"Don't worry, Pietro, you're not going to hurt him," Laura says kindly. "Clint can show you how to hold him, nothing's going to happen."

Pietro bites his bottom lip but he nods and Clint steps closer to him, arranging Pietro's arms carefully before handing him the baby, making sure that Pietro is holding him correctly. Pietro lets out a small gasp when the baby's weight settles in his arms and his eyes are wide as he looks down at Nathaniel. Pietro lets out a shaky laugh and looks up at Clint. There's a spark in his eyes, a look of reverence and awe that Clint knows all too well and Pietro's gaze is automatically drawn back to the baby, a bright grin lighting up his face.

Clint shares a happy look with Laura and her eyes are sparkling.

"Pietro," she says softly. "I want you to meet Nathaniel. Nathaniel Pietro Barton."

Pietro's head shoots up, the surprise and shock etched on his face.

"Pietro?" he asks, his voice barely more than a whisper and Clint nods.

"Well, you did save my life. Without you, Nate would've never gotten to meet his father. It seemed appropriate."

Clint can tell that Pietro is completely overwhelmed, his eyes glistening suspiciously and his mouth opening and closing a few times as if he can't figure out what to say.

"Didn't see that coming, huh?" he says, trying to give Pietro the chance to compose himself and the younger man lets out a short laugh that sounds oddly wet. "Don't let it get to your head. It was mostly Laura's idea. She filled out the birth certificate before I could stop her."

"Of course she did," Pietro replies, looking down at the baby with a soft smile. "Wouldn't have expected anything else."

 

 

Nathaniel is a loud baby. He's constantly crying and screaming and with every sleepless night courtesy of the newest addition to the Barton household, Clint more and more begins to wonder why he ever agreed to have another kid. One look at Laura at yet another three am wake-up call tells him that she's asking herself the very same thing.

In all honesty, Clint probably should've expected this. They did give the child Pietro's name after all and every namesake of Pietro's would of course make it their personal mission to make Clint's life a living hell.

So when Clint is startled awake by a crying baby at four in the morning for the umpteenth time, he blames Pietro.

Laura swats at him and grumbles that it's his turn and with a defeated groan, Clint heaves himself out of the bed and pads over into Nathaniel's room.

"You're doing this just to spite me, aren't you?" he tells his son as he lifts him out of his crib. Nate doesn't seem to care, he just keeps screaming and Clint sighs as he starts bouncing the baby gently.

"Okay, what is it?" he keeps talking, trying to make his voice sound as soothing as possible. "You obviously don't need a diaper change, thank God for that. Are you hungry, hm? Alright, let's see if you're hungry."

He takes Nate down into the kitchen and quickly prepares a bottle of formula.

"Is that what you want?" he asks as he tries to get the baby to drink from the bottle. Nathaniel just keeps crying.

"No? Not hungry then? Are you just crying to keep Mummy and Daddy up, Nate? Is that what you're doing?"

Nathaniel ignores him and maybe Clint is imagining it but the crying seems to get even louder.

"I'm taking that as a yes then," he sighs. "Great."

He relocates to the living room and starts walking around aimlessly, still bouncing the baby.

"Why are you doing this to me, Nate? Your Daddy needs all the sleep he can get. He's not as young as he used to be, you know?"

"Well you got that right, old man," a voice says from the doorway and doesn't that just make Clint's night perfect? It's the sole reason why Nathaniel is such a handful. It's Pietro. The younger man is standing there in pajama bottoms that barely cover his bare feet and an oversized shirt, his hair looking even more disheveled than usually and he's blinking sleepily at Clint.

Clint groans. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Pietro raises an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? How is anyone supposed to sleep through that noise? I thought someone was being murdered."

"My eardrums are being murdered," Clint grumbles and Pietro lets out a soft snort.

"Seriously though, what's wrong? Is he alright?"

Pietro looks genuinely worried and Clint actually manages a small smile. "He's fine, don't worry. Sometimes babies just cry."

"Well yeah but can you do a better job and hurry up with the calming down thing? I really need my sleep."

And just like that any warm feelings Clint may have had about Pietro worrying for Nate are gone. That little shit.

"What, you think you could do better? Why don't you give it a try, huh?"

Pietro shrugs. "Sure, why not. I can't be any worse than you are."

Clint glowers at him but he hands the baby over to Pietro. Pietro carefully arranges Nate in his arms just the way Clint and Laura had showed him and the moment Nathaniel's settled down, the crying stops. Clint stares.

"How... How did you do that?" he asks and Pietro smirks at him.

"Must be my naturally charming personality."

Clint scoffs. "Oh please. That was just luck. I did all the groundwork."

"Uh-huh," Pietro replies, sounding unimpressed and Clint glares at him.

"Give him here, I'll show you..." he mutters and takes Nate back out of Pietro's arms. The crying starts almost instantly and Clint doesn't need to look at Pietro to know that the younger man is basically radiating smugness.

"That doesn't prove anything," he growls and Pietro actually has the audacity to laugh.

"Oh yeah? Wanna try it again?"

He doesn't wait for Clint's answer and reaches out for the baby. As soon as Nate is lying in Pietro's arms again, he falls silent and Clint? Clint seriously hates his life.

 

"Laura? Laura, look at that," Clint hisses and shakes his wife awake. Laura groans.

"The hell, Clint?" she mutters. "What is it?"

"Look!" Clint insists and with a sigh, Laura turns around and sits up. Her eyebrows shoot up when she spots Pietro standing behind Clint, Nathaniel in his arms.

"Did you finally manage to calm him down?" she asks and Clint's look turns sour while Pietro tries and fails to hide his laughter behind a cough.

"Just..." Clint trails off and instead, he just takes the baby from Pietro. Almost instantly, Nate's cries permeate the silence and Laura squeezes her eyes shut in exhausted exasperation.

"Why, Clint?" she says through gritted teeth. "Why are you doing this to me? He'd already stopped crying."

"Laura," Clint says and then he gives Nate back to Pietro. Silence. Laura's eyes widen.

"Did you just..." she starts and Clint nods.

"Our baby loves him more than me," he says darkly but Laura turns her gaze towards Pietro.

"You..." she says, "I could kiss you."

Pietro winks at her, that smug smirk still in full effect.

"Maybe later," he says and Laura... Laura honest to God giggles. It's official. The lack of sleep has made her go crazy. It's tragic.

 

 

It doesn't take Clint long, however, to realize that Pietro apparently being Nathaniel's favourite has one huge advantage. It's Pietro now who gets to deal with a constantly crying baby and Clint and Laura finally get to sleep through the night again.

Pietro doesn't seem to mind that he's now stuck on baby duty. In fact, he seems to enjoy it even when he has to get up in the middle of the night again and again.

Sometimes Clint can barely believe that this is the same Pietro who had been so hesitant about holding Nathaniel back at the hospital that first time when now the two can barely be separated. Pietro obviously loves the baby and he barely lets Nate out of sight. Whenever Nate so much as makes an unhappy noise, Pietro is there immediately, hovering anxiously over the baby, ready to spring into action as soon as "unhappy noises" turns into "unhappy crying". Really, it's kind of adorable. Not that Clint would ever admit that.

But this whole arrangement has another advantage, one that Clint probably is even happier about. Not only is Pietro the only one able to calm the baby down but it also works the other way round.

Pietro is usually always moving in some way. He's always tapping his fingers, jiggling his legs, bouncing up and down and sometimes he's downright vibrating with pent-up energy. Clint doesn't think he's ever actually seen Pietro stand still; or at least he hasn't until Pietro meets Nathaniel. Whenever Pietro is around Nathaniel, he seems to quiet down, he's calmer and not quite as obnoxious as he normally is. The things Clint would give to be able to shut Pietro up that easily too.

 

Sadly, even a calmer Pietro still is a little shit.

 

"Look at him," Pietro coos, looking down at the toddler in his arms. "He's got my eyes."

Clint takes a deep breath and counts to ten before he says slowly and through gritted teeth. "For the last time, Pietro. He does _not_ look like you."

For a few blissful seconds, Pietro is silent, then - "His nose looks just like mine."

Laura finds the whole thing hilarious.

"You know, I do think Pietro is right," she says and looks at the baby pensively. "Look, he even got his cheekbones."

Clint glares at his wife. "I hate you. Both of you."

"No you don’t. You love me. You named your baby after me. Also, you're too old to spend the last remaining years of your life hating us," Pietro smirks and he's lucky that he's holding Nate. It's the only thing that keeps Clint from hitting him.

"Too old..." he mutters, "I'll show you who's too old."

"Please," Pietro says with a snort. "Nate's not even crawling yet and he's already faster than you are."

Laura giggles.

"Yeah, and soon he'll also have more hair," she adds and she and Pietro break into laughter while Clint closes his eyes and lets out a put-upon sigh.

He never should've let those two meet.

 

 

A few months later, when Nathaniel begins to talk, his first word, of course, is "Mummy". The second word is "Pietro". Clint is pretty sure he has never seen Pietro that happy before. He is also pretty sure Pietro is never going to let him live this down.

Clint hates his life. So much.


End file.
